Cargo For The Colony

$36.00

Product Description

Cargo for the Colony: The 1797 Wreck of the Merchant Ship Sydney Cove

by Michael Nash.

Regarded as the first significant recorded shipwreck on the eastern side of the Australian continent, the Sydney Cove was beached on Preservation Island in the Furneaux Group, eastern Bass Strait on 9 February 1797. The voyage by boat and land back to Sydney by some of the crew, the deaths and rescue of he others, the discovery of Bass Strait, the salvage of the rum and the eventual re-discovery and excavation of the wreck site make Cargo for the Colony the most significant maritime publication on a single shipwreck in Australia since Hugh Edwards' Islands of Angry Ghosts. This is not just a shipwreck narrative. It is about our early existence in a hostile country, the greed and skill of early mariners, and the ambitions of our early settlers. From the early trade links, to the archaeological excavation of the site, this is a must for all Australians and anyone interested in early maritime adventures.